Lychee: everything you need to know about this Christmas fruit

Lychee is this delicious nut-shaped fruit that joins the winter fruit basket. To be enjoyed throughout the day, returning from a long snowy walk or waking up with a cup of steaming tea, we present to you lychee, a fruit as surprising as it is excellent for your health.

Lychee, a mysterious and refined fruit

Also called “Chinese cherry”, lychee is the fruit of Litchi chinensis. This tropical tree is native to southern China, where lychee has been cultivated for more than 4000 years. It was the guilty pleasure of Chinese emperors and spread very quickly. It was not until 1764 that the lychee appeared on Reunion Island. It was introduced there by the explorer Joseph-François Charpentier de Cossigny de Palma, then returning from China. In 2012, lychee even obtained the “red label” qualification, a sign of quality.

Initially, lychee comes from a cluster of white and pink flowers. It then transforms into a fruit with a rough shell, and gives rise to the lychee. A poetic, almost mysterious evolution for this fruit with a unique and floral scent. Its flesh is white, strangely translucent and extremely juicy. If you eat it as is, bring something to rinse your fingers. In the mouth, the lychee is almost reminiscent of grapes. Both visually and tastefully, lychee stands out from other fruits.

Lychee, a Christmas fruit

The lychees available in mainland France come straight from Reunion Island, Madagascar, and South Africa, where they are harvested from fall until winter. This explains its presence on end-of-year holiday tables. At this time of year that we love so much, it is common, when returning from a long walk with family or friends, to warm up with a good hot chocolate and some treats. Fruit is often available, to balance the pleasures. Among them, we find lychee but also clementines. Its aromas as sweet as grapes almost replace those of biscuits!

Lychee, a vitamin-rich fruit

Lychee is a mine of vitamin C. With the drop in winter temperatures, lychee is the number 1 ally to counter the end-of-year energy decline. This fruit is also rich in potassium, essential for the proper functioning of the nervous system. In traditional Chinese medicine, the kernel was preserved preciously to help calm epigastric pain. It was ground until a powder was obtained, to be diluted in very hot water, or even wine.

Lychee, a fruit that goes into all preparations

It is eaten raw, as is, removing its shell. You can make juice from it, add it to a smoothie or add it to any dish for a sweet touch. It is cooked in particular to flavor: mixed, to integrate into a Chantilly cream or chopped, simply added to a salad. Lychee is the ingredient that changes and gives a flowery aroma to all preparations. This fruit has even become one of Pierre Hermé’s successes with his famous “Ispahan”, a revisitation of the iconic raspberry, rose and lychee macaroon. Incorporate it into your Christmas recipes, such as a scallop carpaccio, a sweet potato ceviche or even a rose log. We get into the kitchen and rediscover lychee, for a unique and sophisticated New Year’s Eve table.

Here are 8 lychee recipes, designed for the holidays.